How Can Science Support a Process Towards a World Free of Nuclear Weapons?

Scientists have, within the frame of the Conference on Disarmament, been successfully engaged in support of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) for many decades, starting long before negotiations began. This article proposes an International Scientific Network (ISN) to engage the global scientific community to explore how scientific and technological developments can support nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. It reviews the experience gained from scientific work on the CTBT and identifies a broad range of science and technologies that might be the focus of an ISN. A key question is how such an international scientific cooperation can be created in the absence of an existing established political or managerial framework.